Victoria’s staggering spending on youth jails revealed

The Andrews government is spending more than any other state or territory to keep kids locked up in youth detention, sparking calls for reform.

Victorian taxpayers are being slugged more than $200m a year on youth detention, with the cost of keeping kids in jail doubling in just five years.

The cost of housing children in youth detention has risen to a record $222m, or $608,000 a day.

The latest Productivity Commission annual Report on Government Services shows it now costs more than $5000 a day to keep youths locked up – more than any other state or territory.

In NSW the cost is just $2748 a day, while in Queensland it is $2086.

More than $200m a year is spent on youth detention in Victoria. Picture: David Smith

While the number of children in youth detention constantly changes but the average number across Victoria last year was 120, less than both NSW and Queensland.

Shadow Minister for Youth Justice and Criminal Justice Reform, Brad Battin, said urgent reform was needed to address the soaring costs.

“Despite fewer young people at Parkville and Malmsbury, Victorians are spending more than ever to look after them,” he said.

“Important educational and mental health programs have been abandoned and dedicated staff have left their job in droves, feeling traumatised and devalued.

“The Andrews Labor Government is turning its back on the Youth Justice system at a time it is in desperate need of reform.”

Victoria spends more than any other state or territory on keeping kids in jail.

Jesuit Social Services chief Julie Edwards said the cost was unjustifiable.

“The average cost per day of keeping a young person in detention has more than doubled over the past five years to its highest level of just over $5000 per day,” she said.

“That’s more than $5000 a day to lock up a young person when all of the evidence shows that detention is not conducive to rehabilitation, and that young people actually exit the system worse off than when they entered it.”

Ms Edwards said a restorative justice program offered by Jesuit Social Services had led to a “substantive reduction” between 24 to 40 per cent in the likelihood of recidivism.

Police outside the Parkville Youth Justice Precinct. Picture: AAP

And she said it cost just $20,000, or the same cost of locking up a young person for four days.

“Not only is a model like this far more cost effective than detention, but it leads to less crime and fewer victims,” she said.

Victorian Greens justice spokesman, Dr Tim Read, said imprisoning children too often created repeat offenders.

“We need to treat children as children, not as criminals,” he said.

“Criminalising children creates a vicious cycle of disadvantage and only deepens the racial injustice in this country.

“The Victorian Labor government must urgently raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14, so that we can stop pushing kids as young as ten through the school-to-prison pipeline, and ensure they receive treatment and support instead.”

A government spokesperson said the number of custodial staff has increased significantly since 2019 while the average number of young people aged 10-17 in custody per day had also reduced by 31 per cent over the past six years.

“We are transforming our youth justice system and our significant reforms are making a difference – for both our staff and for our young people,” he said.

“Our focus on diverting away from the criminal justice system is already getting results – Victoria has the lowest rate of young people under youth justice supervision and one of the lowest rates of Aboriginal young people in custody in Australia.”